WELLINGTON NOTES.

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 238, 22 January 1898, Page 4

WELLINGTON NOTES.

[FKOTiI our own cokeesfondent"]. Wellington, January 13. EIPE FOR A. CHANGE. The holiday-makers have all got back to work, that is to say people who earn their living have had to get into harness again, but Ministers of State are not bound by ordinary rules, and they are all absent. The Right Honorable Doctor is enjoying the flattery of the numerous 1 State pensioners in Westland. The vast sums voted by Parliament annually for goldfie'.ds subsidies, aids, to prospecting, water races and sludge channels are dis- ■ tributed fairly enough as between 'Kumara, Ross and Rimu, which are all in the Right Honorable's district, bat other goldtielda may just whistle and feel envious, aud when to th's is added such sums spent this year, exclusive of votes yet to be spent as £7823 out of the Thermal springs vote for repairing main roads in a district where there are no Thermal springs ; £2542 for land improvement Where inaccessible mouutains and shingly beaches-are the rule and cultivable land the exception, £14,115 for roads on goldfiolds when the diggings are mainly worked out and the State . aided sluicers of Kumara and Waimea only have 26s per week left after paying the Government the rent of water, aud swheuontop of all this something like 200 men are kept at work on the Midland Railway on his side of the mountain, and none at all on the Canterbury side, it is easy to understand what a popular man he is in Westland. But a. correspondent writes to me that there is a fly in the amber after all his liberality. Even the gift of the possums, the cost of which appeared twice in the public expenditure, has not excused the fact that when he was called upon for a song he had so neglected his opportunities that jl he could only warble the Weating of the | Green to an audience which had suffered tho infliction nightly for a period of thirteen years. They wanted some- . thing fresh from the London music halls, even Tarara Boomde-ay would have been .-■■■ a relief, and a patriot aeked why he : ; hadn't instructed the State poet to write a song, " When I dined with Victoria at Windsor." When Kumara • criticises the Doctor adversely,, what can the rest of the colony think of him. . As for the Minister of Bushy Park and the adjoining estates, which stretch in an unbroken line for six miles along the shores of the Pacific Ocean, that excellent statesman divides his time between congratulating his family on tho acquisition of a territory, which would qualify him to be an aristocrat in the Highlands, ' and spluttering out objurgations on Lord Ranfurly for taking Sir Walter Buller as a guest in the Government steamer Tutanekai. Both he and his chief are very grieved at this want of consideration for their feelings, and fre • quent telegrams pass between them concerning thc.want of loyalty on the part of His Excellency. He is referred to as the "Tory Goveinor" in these exchanges. When that expensive toy, costing three times her value, was ordered by the Hon. J. G. Ward, it was never contemplated that the sacred decks should ever be trod by persons whose views varied from those of Minis-, ters. Such privileges were reserved for good Liberals, such as the 32 dejected objects, mainly members of the Women's, Social and Political League, who went with His Highness the Premier to Auckland to weep and bid him adieu when lie departed to improve the minds of the Prince of Wales, Joseph Cham-. :■■■ berlain, the Pope, and the people of his native town St. Helens. Wo get some ins'ght into the manner in which Dr. Seddon advertised himself from the English papers and magazines. 'No doubt when one "s drawing £IOOO a •■':■. .year as salary and £25 per .day besides , for pocket money,; things look rose coloured. It was little wonder that aftor refreshing hi 3 globular and impressive form at the Hotel Cecil that he should confide to a journalist the assurance that there was not a pauper in New Zealand. Another .scribe—McKcnzie by namehas an article.and portraits of Premiere - in the Christmas number of the Windsor Magazine, under the title of " Masters of Empire," which reads very much as if ~1: the Agent-General had assisted in its production. , ; The following delicious : extract indicates that he must have inspired the New Zealand part of it at any rate : " This is not the placo to desciibethe ;'■". very striking laws which have helped in the making of New Zealand. A con- >}:■ Crete instance will best show their icv"-. .suit; Writing about three years ago, the Hon. W- Pember Reeves, then Minister of Labour, said:". "While I write these words, the faD and long gloves are lying on the kitchen dresser,;. She is" an excellent -servant, and thedresser is a very clean one. She is going out to-night, in full evening costume, to the Wellington Boating Club Ball. This club is composed chiefly of .young working men. . Her invitation .. 'cornea through tho captain, a well-known barrister, the. secretary and treasurer, who will introduce her to plenty of partv ners—all in swallow-tail coats ! I anticipate that her programme will be filled up at once. She will meet there, and probably dance in the same set with, the daughters of the Premier of New ••• Zealandl and other 4 notable personages." 1 There is a fine flavour of the Democracy about this which impels the reader to exclaim something like "dam rot" when he. reaches the end. For the "striking laws " alluded to have had .nothiug to do with the " making of New Zealand," but a great deal with the undoing of the work of the earlier and more honest statesmen, and the supposition that the imperious and exclusive Bill Reeves would lower himself ,to enter a kitchen aud icrutinise the dresser is too much.for the credulity of his most casual acquaintance. There is this much truth in it. Miuisters, in their eager desire for flattery and votes, do mix with very questionable characters at social functions in Wellington. More than once it has happened at a crowded Liberal ball Where very .few fans, long gloves or swallow-tad coats were to be seen, watches and jewellery were,missing and free fights and black eyes prevailed. However, the chief end of a Liberal ', statesman is to advertise himself—gener- • ally at the publicexpense. Most of our New Zealand Liberal' organs and the whole of the Australian Press is now " agin' the Government." They could hardly be otherwise. So to compensate for this the London papers and the cable ■ . -.service is subsidised to glorify the party. : : '. The payment of £SOO to Reutcr's agency ■'■'■'■ for distributing Cibles in London, coloured in such a remarkable way and prepared under the supervision of Ministers, that to use the word " misleading " "■■;'' about'themes weak and insipid.; The , Ward Association, according to these • ■ expensive manufactured cablegrams, will pay 16s in the £. Tne Right Hon. Dr. Seddon's reception on his return from the Jubilee was a red-letter day in the annals of New Zealand and the peoplo were wild with joy at their ibe'oved leader's return crowned with ;'. laurels. That was the way it was cabled to England, whereas the exteh- ;? sive preparations made here by bis State - paid sycophants resulted in a deplorable frost. It is nothing to these champions of the deserving working man Hand the deserving farmer to throw away £SOO for such self laudation, but a local body starved for funds for" necessary works; may. dance attendance on the door mat of the Premier's ante room and beg in vain for a, Bubsidy or some 'consideration for "their, pressing needs

It is no eecret that the two leading members of the Cabinet would gladly : throw overboard Messrs T. Thompson .■': and Hall-Jones, but they cannot fee .their way..; Their scant majority at the end of the session bars them from making Jonahs of the two incapables who

would inevitably beconio Left Winger if thrown overboard. On the other hand there are private'members' who have for the past two or three years been kept sweet by the dangling of portfolios before them who arc restive. Mr Guinness actually became mutinous during the last few weeks. He had earned the Attorney Generalship a couple of years ago and a Judgeship to follow. So had Mr Montgomery, l.ut he saw that among other reforms the Seddon Government considered such an office a superfluity and he helped to form the left wing. Mr Pirani, also. His grievancc was that he was not re-appointed to the Wellington Land Board owing to his nob.being sufficiently subservient to the Hon. Jock. While it must be conceded that the Left Wing was aggressive during the late session, it must be remembered that they were quite as cognisant of the corruption of Ministers two years ago as they were recently, and thia discounts their recent attitude. As for Tommy Taylor, he can hardly be taken seriously yet. He is in the bull-calf stage just now and in five years' time, if he keeps a brick in his hat to keep lvs ideas from effervescing into gas, and eschews inflammatory street oratory he may prove useful. But the Left Wing, as yet, presumes too much when.it calls itself a. Party. •